Post-Shutdown Panda Cam Fix Stymied: Fans Overwhelm Site

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The Smithsonian National Zoo's panda cam began operating again
this morning, but that doesn't mean you'll get to watch Mei
Xiang's 8-week-old cub stretch and wriggle about.

"The panda cam went live at 10:36 this morning I believe," said
Devin Murphy, communications officer at the zoo in Washington,
D.C. "Within 10 minutes we had reached the maximum number of
connections that we can accommodate for the panda cam, so we've
been troubleshooting those issues throughout the day."

A maximum of 850 visitors at any one time can connect to the
panda cam, Murphy told LiveScience. To help ease the cam deluge,
zoo officials have set the connections in a way that allows
visitors to sit and watch for just 15 minutes before they have to
refresh or the connection is lost. [ In
Photos: Giant Panda Mei Xiang Gives Birth ]

A workaround? Check out the Smithsonian Zoo's app, which streams
the panda cam uninterrupted, Murphy said.

She now weighs 5 pounds (2.6 kilograms), which is up from her
3.07-pound (1.39 kg) weigh-in on Sept. 26. And her eyes are now
partially open. On Oct. 4 (Day 4 of the shutdown) the cub's right
peeper began to open, and by Oct. 11 both eyes were partially
open. With fully open ears, the panda cub also reacts to noises
in her zoo habitat, according to zoo officials.

Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) is leaving the cub for longer periods on
her own; the little one is scooting around the den, eating,
drinking, interacting with keepers and even sneaking outside the
panda house for short stints without her mama. And she may be
scooting about for some time as panda cubs don't tend to start
walking until about 4 months old. Even so, zookeepers say she can
already push up on her two front legs.

The panda cam is not just a pastime for fans; zookeepers were
glued to the streaming video in August looking for any signs the
mama was going to give birth, which happened on Aug. 23 at 5:23
p.m. ET.

The next day, Mei Xiang gave birth to a second cub, though this
was a stillborn. Though the stillborn twin was never alive and
never fully formed, its mother groomed it for about 17 minutes,
zookeepers said at the time.

Like other giant pandas in captive breeding programs,
Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated. Natural breeding
attempts between Mei Xiang and the zoo's male panda Tian Tian
were unsuccessful, leading scientists to artificially inseminate
the female twice on March 30.